I use to like to buy things a lot when I was younger and I guess I still do but now it's mostly art or paper craft supplies. I didn't do any shopping on Black Friday or Cyber Monday. I don't think I've ever gone shopping on Black Friday, if memory serves correctly. I find that Black Friday is a better time for hearth, home and reflection on what I am thankful for. The thought of facing big crowds after Thanksgiving almost makes me physically sick. For years people have been suggesting that I get an online store on etsy. Finally, yesterday I opened one for my card line which is called Love Bird Designs. I figure, I've made about 175 cards since September and at that rate soon my studio will look like I'm a hoarder so I might as well get rid of some of these cards. I've been making Love Bird Designs since the late 80s but usually only to be given away for Christmas or Yule. I have found some new toys I like to use in the cardmaking over the past year. I added: embossing, die-cutting and my spiffy scissor collection. Someone gave me a demo on embossing at Paper Source. Love that store but need to stay out of there because I end up spending too much money there. In terms of collage techniques, I use to do a lot of burnt edges and sewing into the cards too, and plan to reintegrate that into the work. This image is of one of the cards I made in the fall. It contains banana paper, tobacco paper, some embossing, stamping, die-cut fabric and lots of layers. My etsy store is here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/stephaniebird2
Gran Bwa is a lwa that helps you connect to ancestral roots or the spiritual home of Vodou. A friend of mine, who is an expert on Haitian Vodou, who has spent a lot of time in Haiti with the artists there, told me I had painted Gran Bwa when I made this spontaneous work out of walnut ink and sumi-ink on handmade paper. I had considered this painting a self-portrait. She now holds this piece in her private collection: Quite a few people are afraid of Vodou but it is an awe-inspiring tradition of bringing together plant energy with divinity, spiritual and personal energy. My friend who is very involved with Vodou, especially the art that surrounds it, is from European ancestry. She is light in spirit and bubbly, with a close relationship to nature and her garden. Vodou affirms the relationships between cycles of life, trees of knowledge and spirit. The Vodou vision of lwa , understands them as the intelligence of energy present in humans, nature and thoughts. Mysteries ca
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